In recent years, there has been increased interest in mechanical vending or distribution of products to consumers. The vending machine concept has been used for a long time for items such as snacks, soft drinks and tobacco products. Such vending machines offer some significant advantages, including reduced overhead and efficient use of valuable retail space. Consumer convenience and sales are enhanced by providing access to products outside of regular business hours.
Along with these and other advantages, automated or mechanical vending has generated some problems. One such problem is that the product dispensed to consumer by machine must be adequately protected during mechanical handling. A corollary problem is that when a package provides adequate protection of a mechanically vended product, a consumer may have difficulty in opening the package because of the durability features.
Although mechanical vending often results in economic gains, savings are not maximized because the packaging or cartons for products dispensed to consumers in this fashion traditionally have been single use-type packages. Such packaging is often immediately discarded and generates environmental problems because of littering and the ultimate disposal of the single use container. Additionally, such single use containers reduce the attractiveness of vending machines for retailers because of the litter that typically is generated at the location of the machine. For the consumer, the single use containers are unsuitable for the longer-term storage that may be desired and also for the repeated handling that photographic products sometimes face.
With specific regard to photographic products, particularly developed film and prints for distribution to consumers, the traditional packaging is a flimsy paper envelope-type package. Such a package is unsuited for the rigors of mechanical, robotic or other automated vending machines. Photographic materials need protection, because they are susceptible to damage by bending or scratching. Additionally, there is the possibility that portions of the envelope-type package may be torn off or misaligned, interfering with the operation of the vending machine. Finally, the dimensions and shape of an envelope-type package vary somewhat according to the items contained in the envelope, making machine handling more difficult.
Clearly, current packaging methods do not facilitate the use of automatic, mechanical vending of photographic materials to consumers to an optimum degree. Accordingly, there is an unmet need for a simple, strong, reusable paperboard package that adequately protects photographic materials during mechanical distribution to consumers.